The Half-Blood Mate

Chapter Fourteen

"Hurry up. I gotta meet up with the squad before classes." Clara hollered out the rolled down window of the passenger's side from her seat on the driver's side.

I ran toward the car. "I'm coming, nut job. Give me a sec."

"A sec is money out of my pocket, Babe." Clara turned her head forward as I slid into the seat beside her.

"What money? You get a healthy allowance." 

"You can never have too much money." She shrugged and drove from the curve. 

Looking out the window, last night's conversation with mom had me reconsidering a lot. I almost died, and the helpless, worried look on her face had me really thinking about everything. 

"That's how I ran the car off the road and was saved by Mr. Knight."

"Listen, Milly, don't worry about the car. I'm just glad you are safe." Mom embraced me, but not before I saw tears in her eyes. She wouldn't let them fall. No, mom was a proud woman. 

I hugged her back. "It's a good thing Mr. Knight was there."

"Yes." She pulled back to look at me. The tears that were once there were gone. "But you should probably let me know where you'll be in case something like this happens."

"Yeah, I think I will do that." 

When we reached school, I started to get out, but I was stopped when Clara placed a hand on my arm. Looking back at her, the first thing I see is a box wrapped in pink wrapping paper. 

"Happy birthday, Amelia. I know you don't celebrate your birthday, but here." She placed the box in my hands.

Looking at the perfectly wrapped box, I looked back up at her, a smile tugging at my mouth. "You purposely wrapped it pink." 

"You're a girl, pink is our universal color." She arched an eyebrow, a smile of her own taking over her face.

"You know gold is the universal color. You wear gold everyday." I sat the box in my lap and began to open it. "What did you get me?" 

"You're the one opening the box. You tell me. And the necklace was gifted to me from Grandma Tessa. It'll be a crime to not wear it." There was a sense of duty in her voice. "You know, with her being dead and all."

"I know, I know," I said as I finished undoing the horrible paper and opened the box. After pulling out a good bit of tissue paper, which seemed to get a laugh out of Clara, I finally came to my gift. A smile immediately formed. Pulling out the gold, cuff bracelet, I looked over at my friend. 

"Like it, right? You should read it." 

Not sisters by blood, but sisters by hearts. 

The words made me want to cry as I read them. It touched me on a level I didn't understand. "Oh, Clara." I threw my arms around her neck the best I could. "Thank you."

She laughed and hugged me back. "You can thank me by not strangling the air from my little lungs." 

Pulling back, I wiped at my eyes. "Your lungs aren't little. You're a cheerleader, Miss. Cheery."

"There's my sensible best friend," she laughed again. "Hey, but I do have to go. I have practice today, so you will have to two-leg it or call mom." 

"Ok, thank you again." I slide the bracelet onto my right wrist. Climbing out the car, I said my goodbye to Clara before making my way to my locket to get my things for class. 

When I walked into Mr. Knight's classroom, I noticed he didn't look my way. This was odd because he usually looked in my direction the moment I took my seat. I brushed it off as he probably was finishing up some last minute class notes. As the class went on, however, he didn't even look my way. Maybe I had gotten too used to his gaze on me. Yeah that's probably it.

Class ended and the day went on. All day, it felt like Mr. Knight was avoiding me. I mean he would change directions whenever he saw me coming or he would even have other students pass a message to me instead of approaching me. It was just odd. I even felt like I was being watched sometimes. I didn't understand. He was one of the friendliest teachers. Although, I could be just overreacting, but it just felt like he was avoiding me. As the day came to an end, I brushed off Mr. Knight's odd behavior. It was pointless to ponder over something I couldn't control. Plus, I really needed to check myself. Since when did I become one of his fangirls? 

Deciding against calling my mom, I decided to walk home. I could use the exercise and I knew mom was probably working at the cafe right now. As I rounded the backside of the school, I caught a glance of Mr. Knight. Ducking back behind the corner, I wonder what he was doing around here. Wasn't his car usually parked in front where the staff parking lot sat beside the student parking lot? I peeked around the corner when I heard a familiar voice.

"It's a shame that Alpha ordered us to be civil," Alaric Miller, a boy known as the charming womanizer among the female population of Jacksonville High, was saying to Mr. Knight. 

Mr. Knight balled his right hand into a fist. "You'll be wise to walk away, Kid."

One side of Alaric's mouth lifted. "Amelia's mine. My claim was gifted to me during our birth season." 

"She's my fated, whether you like it or not." 

"That may be, but she belongs to Night Walkers." Alaric's smirk turned into a smile. 

"How? She has no alliance nor is she aware." 

I was sure I heard an animalistic growl between Mr. Knight's words, but then that made no sense. Must have misheard. But what the heck was Alaric talking about? I was no one's claim? And fated? What are they even talking about?

The smirk returned to Alaric's face. "She will soon when my dad comes for her. He is, technically, her alpha. And when he does, we will form our union. And you, well, that so-called fated bull bond will break." 

I saw him move even before Alaric could react. Mr. Knight had Alaric by the collar. His once green eyes were amber gold. His overall appearance took on a wilderness, more feral look. But that wasn't what had me gasping out loud. When he opened his mouth to speak, I could see canine fangs. They were like wolf's fangs, curved slightly and longer. 

My gasp must have alerted the two to my presence because Mr. Knight shoved Alaric away. Alaric had fallen on his behind with the force of the shove, but a confident expression morphed onto his face. 

"Now she has an idea of what we really are. It's only a matter of time now." Alaric said, not making an effort to get up.

Mr. Knight sent a glare his way before turning to me. 

By the look on his face, he clearly didn't expect to see me there. Something, which most likely was fear mixed with uncertainty, must have shown on my face, because he abruptly turned and walked off in the direction of his car. 

By now, Alaric had gotten to his feet. He approached me with that signature gentle smile he used on over half the female population. "I should explain, right?"

But I didn't want to hear his explanation for what I just witnessed. He wasn't the one who had wolf's fangs or gold eyes. Though he did know something clearly, I wasn't really interested in hearing whatever lies he had. I was very sure he would try to convince me that what I saw wasn't what I saw. 

Mr. Knight had tried that too when I ran my car off the road, but I knew there was no way he could make me unsee this. 

"Get out of my way," I said as I brushed Alaric aside and ran after Mr. Knight.